Adam MessingerHasan RizviThe theme of JavaOne 2011, held October 2–6, was“Moving Java Forward”—and by the end of the confer-ence, most attendees were feeling a new momentumreminiscent of Java’s initial rush into prominence morethan a decade ago. What Oracle’s stewardship of the Javaplatform means was brought into clarity at this year’sJavaOne. The new direction is coherent and focused, es-chewing disjointed efforts that are tangential to the primeobjectives, ultimately leading to a cohesive Java platformwhere all the pieces fit together synchronously. Big topicsat the show included Java/JDK 8; Java Platform, EnterpriseEdition (Java EE), Java Platform, Standard Edition (JavaSE), and Java Platform, Micro Edition (Java ME); and theJava Community Process (JCP), Java user groups, and ofcourse, the Java community. Here are some highlights:

Java/JDK 8 RoadmapJavaOne provided an op-portunity to hear aboutOracle’s long-term visionfor investment and in-novation in Java. At theJava strategy keynote,Oracle’s Hasan Rizvi,Adam Messinger, andCameron Purdy laid out aclear roadmap to Java 8.Responding to feedbackfrom the community, theOracle Java team decidedthat Java will return to atwo-year major releasecycle (which worked wellin the early 2000s). Therelease of Java 8 will bedelayed until the summerof 2013, but its scope isnow expanded.